Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

11 Four times daily, in an Rx : QID

Abbreviations on a medical prescription (Rx) are shortened forms of Latin phrases. “Ter in die” is Latin for “three times a day”, abbreviated to “TID”. “Bis in die” (BID) would be twice a day, and “quater in die” (QID) would be four times a day.

14 Isaac’s eldest son : ESAU

Esau was the grandson of Abraham and the twin brother of Jacob, the founder of the Israelites. When Esau was born to Isaac and Rebekah, the event was described with “Now the first came forth, red all over like a hairy garment”. Esau is portrayed later in life as being very different from his brother Jacob, as a hunter and someone who loves the outdoor life.

15 “Scooby-Doo” friend of Velma, Fred and Shaggy : DAPHNE

“Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!” is a series of cartoons produced for Hanna-Barbera Productions, first broadcast in 1969. The title character is a great Dane dog owned by a young male called Shaggy Rogers. The character’s name was inspired by the famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo” refrain in the Frank Sinatra hit “Strangers in the Night”. Shaggy was voiced by famed disk jockey Casey Kasem. Shaggy and Scooby’s friends are Velma, Fred and Daphne.

16 Former Egypt-Syria confed. : UAR

The United Arab Republic (UAR) was a union between Egypt and Syria made in 1958, and dissolved in 1961 when Syria pulled out of the arrangement.

19 Texter’s “I think” : IMO

In my opinion (IMO)

20 Genetic messengers : RNAS

Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) is an essential catalyst in the manufacture of proteins in the body. The genetic code in DNA determines the sequence of amino acids that make up each protein. That sequence is read in DNA by messenger RNA, and amino acids are delivered for protein manufacture in the correct sequence by transfer RNA. The amino acids are then formed into proteins by ribosomal RNA.

The Yaqui are an ethnic group who live mainly in the Southwestern US and the Mexican state of Sonora. The Spanish first encountered the Yaqui in 1533. There followed an almost continual struggle by the Yaqui to defend their lands and culture for four centuries.

28 Word on an octagonal sign : STOP

In the US, a stop sign is red and octagonal.

31 Bank takebacks, briefly : REPOS

Repossession (repo)

32 Home run stat : RBI

Run batted in (RBI)

34 12th Jewish month : ELUL

Elul is the month in the Hebrew calendar that occurs in August-September.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the greatest all-round athletes to compete in US sports. Most famous as a champion golfer and Olympic track-and-field athlete, Didrikson also played at the highest levels in basketball and baseball. She even competed in sewing, and recorded several records as a singer and harmonica player!

50 Yale student : ELI

“Eli” is the nickname for a graduate of Yale University, and a term used in honor of the Yale benefactor Elihu Yale.

51 Davis of “A League of Their Own” : GEENA

As well as being a successful Hollywood actress, Geena Davis is an accomplished archer and came close to qualifying for the US archery team for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Davis is also a member of American Mensa. She is quite the lady …

“A League of Their Own” is a comedy drama film released in 1992 that tells a tale about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League active during WWII. The lead actors were Tom Hanks and Geena Davis. The film spawned one of the most famous quotes in movie history: “There’s no crying in baseball!”

52 Beauty contest : PAGEANT

The oldest beauty pageant still operating in the US is the Miss America contest. The Miss America beauty pageant started out as a marketing ploy in the early twenties to attract tourists to the Atlantic City boardwalk after Labor Day. Today, contestants must be between 17 and 24 years of age. Before those limits were introduced, Marian Bergeron won the 1933 title at only 15 years of age.

66 Sleep acronym : REM

“REM” is an acronym standing for rapid eye movement sleep. REM sleep takes up 20-25% of the sleeping hours and is the period associated with one’s most vivid dreams.

68 Canadian gas : ESSO

The brand name Esso has its roots in the old Standard Oil company as it uses the initial letters of “Standard” and “Oil” (ESS-O). The Esso brand was replaced by Exxon in the US, but ESSO is still used in many other countries.

Down

1 Follow-up film: Abbr. : SEQ

Sequel (seq.)

2 Sch. in Columbus : OSU

Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus was founded back in 1870 as the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The athletic teams of OSU are called the Buckeyes, named after the state tree of Ohio. In turn the buckeye tree gets its name from the appearance of its fruit, a dark nut with a light patch thought to resemble a “buck’s eye”.

3 __ Paulo : SAO

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil. It is also the city with the highest number of helicopters in the world. This is partly driven by the horrendous traffic jams in São Paulo, but also by the wealthy having a very real fear of being kidnapped on the city’s streets.

5 Icelandic literary work : EDDA

The “Poetic Edda” and “Prose Edda” are two ancient works that are the source for much of Norse mythology. Both Eddas were written in the 13th century in Iceland.

6 Drake musical numbers : RAP SONGS

Drake is the stage name of rapper Aubrey Graham from Toronto.

7 Mo. with showers : APR

The phenomenon known as April showers really applies to Britain and Ireland. Increased occurrence of rain during April is largely due to an annual change in the position of the jet stream.

8 Certain Muslim : SHIITE

The Islamic sects of Sunni and Shia Muslims differ in the belief of who should have taken over leadership of the Muslim faithful after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Followers of the Sunni tradition agree with the decision that the Prophet Muhammad’s confidante Abu Bakr was the right choice to become the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Followers of the Shia tradition believe that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet Muhammad’s own family, and favoured the Prophet’s son-in-law Ali.

9 SASEs, e.g. : ENCS

Enclosure (enc.)

An SAE is a “stamped, addressed envelope”. An SASE is a “self-addressed, stamped envelope”.

18 City west of Tulsa : ENID

Enid, Oklahoma takes its name from the old railroad station around which the city developed. Back in 1889, that train stop was called Skeleton Station. An official who didn’t like the name changed it to Enid Station, using a character from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King”. Maybe if he hadn’t changed the name, the city of Enid would now be called Skeleton, Oklahoma! Enid has the nickname “Queen Wheat City” because is has a huge capacity for storing grain, the third largest grain storage capacity in the world.

Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma (after Oklahoma City). Tulsa started out as a settlement established by the Loachapoka and Creek Native American tribes in 1836. These early settlers called their new home “Tallasi” meaning “old town”, and this name morphed into “Tulsa” that we use today.

24 Swedish pop band : ABBA

Only three members of the quartet that made up the Swedish pop group ABBA were born in Sweden. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was born in Norway just after the end of WWII, the daughter of a Norwegian mother and a father who was German soldier and a member of the German occupying forces during the war. The father returned to Germany with the army, and in 1947, Anni-Frid was taken with her family to Sweden. They left fearing reprisals against those who dealt with the German army during the occupation.

25 “The $64,000 Question,” e.g. : QUIZ PROGRAM

“The $64,000 Question” was around in the days of great quiz show scandals, like cheating that went on in the game show “Twenty One” (all revealed in the 1994 movie “Quiz Show“). The cheating in “Twenty One” involved showing a contestant the questions ahead of time. The cheating in “The $64,000 Question” involved seeding the deck of questions with subjects that suited popular contestants.

27 German gripe : ACH!

The German exclamation “ach!” is usually translated into English as “oh!”

30 Heifetz’s teacher : AUER

Leopold Auer was a Hungarian violinist, as well as a conductor and composer. Auer wrote a small number of works for the violin, the most famous of which is the “Rhapsodie Hongroise” written for violin and piano.

Jascha Heifetz was a violinist from Vilnius in Lithuania who emigrated with his family to the US when he was a child. Heifetz toured Israel in 1953 and included in his recitals the Violin Sonata by Richard Strauss. Strauss was known for his anti-Semitic views, so this piece was always received in silence at his recitals in Israel. Heifetz was attacked with a crowbar outside his hotel in Jerusalem, severely injuring his right arm. He struggled with the injured arm for several years, and eventually had surgery in 1972. Heifetz’s injured arm never really recovered, and he was forced to cease giving concerts.

31 Mr. Hyde creator’s monogram : RLS

Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS) was a Scottish author. He was most famous for his novels “Treasure Island”, “Kidnapped” and “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” was published in 1886. There are many tales surrounding the writing of the story, including one that the author wrote the basic tale in just three to six days, and spent a few weeks simply refining it. Allegedly, Stevenson’s use of cocaine stimulated his creative juices during those few days of writing.

34 Fed. power dept. : ENER

The US Department of Energy (DOE) came into being largely as a result of the 1973 oil crisis. The DOE was founded in 1977 by the Carter administration. The DOE is responsible for regulating the production of nuclear power, and it is also responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons. The official DOE seal features a lightning bolt and symbols denoting five sources of energy: the sun, an atom, an oil derrick, a windmill and a dynamo.

36 The Congo, formerly : ZAIRE

The African nation once called Zaire is a neighbor of Rwanda. The genocide and war in Rwanda spilled over into Zaire in 1996, with the conflict escalating into what is now called the First Congo War. As part of the war’s fallout there was a regime change, and in 1997 Zaire became the Democratic Republic of Congo.

40 Funny Fey : TINA

Comedian and actress Tina Fey was born Elizabeth Stamatina Fey in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. Fey is perhaps best known to television viewers as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live” (1997-2006), and as the creator and star of the sitcom “30 Rock” (2006-2013).

47 “Young Frankenstein” helper : IGOR

In the world of movies, Igor has been the assistant to Dracula, Frankenstein and Young Frankenstein among others. Igor is almost invariably portrayed as a hunchback.

I am not really a big fan of movies by Mel Brooks, but “Young Frankenstein” is the exception. I think the cast has a lot to do with me liking the film, as it includes Gene Wilder (Dr. Frankenstein), Teri Garr (Inga), Marty Feldman (Igor) and Gene Hackman (Harold, the blind man).

48 Collectible doll, and a phonetic hint to four long puzzle answers : KEWPIE

Kewpie dolls are figurines that were introduced originally in 1909 as characters in a comic strip drawn by cartoonist Rose O’Neill. The name “Kewpie” comes from “Cupid”, the name of the Roman god of erotic love.

53 Here, in Spanish : AQUI

“Here” is “aquí” in Spanish, and “ici” in French.

54 Ex-Georgia senator Sam : NUNN

Sam Nunn served as a US Senator for the state of Georgia as a Democrat, for 24 years until 1997. Nunn is married to Colleen O’Brien, whom he met for the first time in the US Embassy in Paris where she was working as a spy for the CIA.

56 Comedian Foxx : REDD

“Redd Foxx” was the stage name of John Elroy Sanford, best known for starring in “Sanford and Son”. “Sanford and Son” was an American version of a celebrated hit BBC sitcom that I grew up with in Ireland, called “Steptoe and Son”.

59 66, notably: Abbr. : RTE

The famous old highway called Route 66 has largely been replaced by modern interstates. It ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, right through the heart of America, and so it was often called the “Main Street of America”. The road gained notoriety because of Nat King Cole’s song “(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66”, and also because of the sixties TV show called “Route 66”.

60 Morning hrs. : AMS

The 12-hour clock has been around a long time, and was even used in sundial format in ancient Egypt. Our use of AM and PM dates back to Roman times, with AM standing for Ante Meridiem (before noon) and PM standing for Post Meridiem (after noon). However, the Romans originally used the AM concept a little differently, by counting backwards from noon. So, 2AM to the Romans would be two hours before noon, or 10AM as we would call it today.

61 “Help!” at sea : SOS

The combination of three dots – three dashes – three dots, is a Morse signal first introduced by the German government as a standard distress call in 1905. The sequence is remembered as the letters SOS (three dots – pause – three dashes – pause – three dots). That said, in the emergency signal there is no pause between the dots and dashes, so “SOS” is really only a mnemonic. Similarly, the phrases “Save Our Souls” and “Save Our Ship” are also mnemonics that were introduced after the SOS signal was adopted.

62 Boxing ref’s decision : TKO

In boxing, a knockout (KO) is when one of the fighters can’t get up from the canvas within a specified time, usually 10 seconds. This can be due to fatigue, injury, or the participant may be truly “knocked out”. A referee, fighter or doctor may also decide to stop a fight without a physical knockout, especially if there is concern about a fighter’s safety. In this case the bout is said to end with a technical knockout (TKO).